Capsule technology continues to be subject to development and improvements. In its basic form, standard containers for pharmaceuticals or other powdered, granular or liquid substances (generally referred to as telescope-type or two-piece capsules) include a tubular-shaped and/or cylindrically-shaped first part, namely a cap part, which is closed on one end and open on the other opposite end. A tightly fitting second part of similar shape, namely the body part, is of smaller diameter than the cap part and is typically telescopically engaged therein to form the overall dosage form or two-piece capsule. Similar capsule technology may be used to generate multi-compartment capsules.
Multi-compartment dosage form articles of the above type are known, and are generally used for storing one or more incompatible components therein.
Some multi-compartment dosage forms are in the form of multiple two-piece capsules stored within one another. Generally this involves a larger two-piece capsule forming the outer shell of the dosage form and one or more smaller two-piece capsules therein storing different mediums therein. An example of this arrangement is described in EP1 301 178B1. Disadvantages of this arrangement include dislocation of the inner capsules with respect to the outer capsule which may result in damage of the content and/or capsules themselves during handling, overall size limitations of the dosage form, and the need for complex filling processes.
Other multi-compartment dosage forms, such as described in EP2 211 820B1, are in the form of two-piece capsules with a main cap and a main body being joined to form a first compartment and a further body joined to the outer surface of the aforementioned main body to form a second compartment. Disadvantages of this arrangement include increased overall volume size of the dosage form (particularly overall length of the same) which may be undesirable for swallowability, risk of premature disengagement of the further body from the main body with subsequent spill of the content during handling, as well as requiring complex filling processes in order to fill and assemble the final product.
Therefore there still remains a need for a dosage form article that overcomes the problems of the prior art and in particular allows for a multi-compartment capsule that minimizes overall size of the dosage form, and/or improved resistance during handling, and/or simplifies assembly and filling processes of the same.